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If you're not particularly tech-savvy, then purchasing, maintaining, and securing technology for your business can be a confusing situation to navigate. You may already know plenty about what you should do, but what about what you should not do?

Everything including not backing up your data, using social networking tools incorrectly (or not at all), and using pirated software can affect your bottom line in a bad way. Here are 15 tech mistakes that small businesses make over an over again, and what you need to do to prevent them.

1. Relying Too Heavily on the Cloud

Cloud storage is an excellent resource for small businesses. It's often affordable, and it allows you to access data when you're away from the office. However, relying too heavily on the cloud can be dangerous, as it means placing all of your important data in the hands of another company or person.

Speaking of backing up data, backup strategies are useless if you don't use them. Unfortunately, this is often the case with individuals and businesses alike. Just having a physical hard drive or a cloud-based storage account won't help you if you fail to keep your data backed up and your technology relevant.

Luckily, backup programs will do this for you. Back up your data on a frequent and regular basis, so you don't have to do it manually. It's especially critical to establish a good backup strategy if you're a small business with no dedicated IT staff to do it for you; data recovery is a painful, expensive process.

Ensure that your company's smartphones are password-protected (Passwords like "1234" or "9999" don't count), have remote wipe capabilities enabled, and have a secure operating system (BlackBerry allows users to encrypt SD cards, for instance), just in case someone does leave a handset in a bar somewhere. For more granular controls, also investigate smartphone management software, such as NotifyMDM.

Instead, consider cleaning up and reselling your old tech. Obviously this means your technology has to be in working condition, although some companies will still take phones with cracked screens. If your tech passes the standards of companies such as Gazelle or NextWorth, then remember to wipe your data first and then send along the gear, and you may get a decent check to use toward your office upgrade.

6. Failing at Social Networking

Social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook are excellent resources for small businesses to develop an online presence. However, they're not so excellent if you never use them, if you automate them, or even worse, if you use them to get into online spats with customers.

Having a Twitter account and only tweeting impersonal, promotional one-liners is almost as bad as having no Twitter account at all. After all, the key to social networking is the "social" part--not the networking.

It's important to know how much the ink or toner will cost, because this will be the deciding factor in the long run. Many "cheap" printers will slowly leach money from your business with jacked-up ink or toner prices. It's also a good idea to consider refilling your ink instead of purchasing new cartridges each time.

8. Taking the Groupon Way Out

Groupon and other social-shopping Websites can seem like a godsend for struggling businesses. Just offer your product or service up at a deeply discounted price, and get hundreds or thousands of brand new customers.

But if you're a small business, don't be so easily wooed by the potential advertising and new customers. Many small businesses are finding that offering Groupon-like deals can be a nightmare. A number of things can go wrong, especially if you don't have the staff, time, or budget to accept hundreds of new customers purchasing your services for a fraction of the usual price. Offering a Groupon deal that you can't deliver on will not only cost you money, it will cost you your reputation.

There are plenty of reasons small businesses use stock photos, such as updating Websites and creating original blog posts, advertisements, and so forth. But before you purchase those two or 20 stock photos to pretty up your company's blog, check out free sources, such as photos labeled with a Creative Commons license.

Many Flickr users upload their photos under a Creative Commons license, which means you'll likely be able to use their photos in exchange for attribution. To find Flickr photos with Creative Commons licenses, go to Flickr's "Advanced Search" page and check the box at the bottom of the page that says "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content." If you plan on using the photos for commercial purposes, or if you want to modify them in any way, check the corresponding boxes. You can also search beyond Flickr by looking up Creative Commons pictures on Google's Image Search.

11. Buying Extended Warranties

If you don't know a lot about technology, then purchasing an extended warranty to cover your new gadget may seem like a good idea. However, it's been provenover and over again that buying in-store extended warranties is generally not worth it.

Obviously, it will always depend on what you're buying, what the warranty covers, and what type of person you are. If you're purchasing a smartphone and you plan to bring it on a lot of whitewater rafting trips, then you may want to think twice about that (and check if the warranty covers water damage). But if you're purchasing a new PC that's going to sit on your desk at work, you probably don't need that warranty.

12. Ignoring Your Online Reputation

Small business owners know that reputation is everything, and this also applies to your online reputation. Even if you don't think you have much of an online presence, customer review and consumer advocacy sites allow your customers to voice their opinions on the Web without your explicit consent.

That's why it's important to monitor your business's online presence regularly, and research how your company appears in search results. What you don't know could be hurting you. If you do find out that your online presence is less than savory, you'll need to take the appropriate face-saving steps to rebuild your good name.

13. Choosing the Wrong Tech Support

Tech support is a tricky subject. After all, if you're a small enough business and you "know a guy," why bother hiring a professional, right? Maybe. Gartner research has found that small businesses generally try to use as little IT help as possible, but this is not necessarily a good thing.

While you can use your cousin's girlfriend's dog-trainer's little sister--or even hire a remote professional on a per-problem basis--if you plan on expanding your business at all, it may be a good idea to hire a part-time or full-time professional. Not only will you be able to build a better relationship with an in-house IT pro, but you'll also be able to expand technologically and upgrade your company seamlessly.

14. Skipping the Training Session

It may seem like I'm stating the obvious, but technology is useless unless you know how to use it. Purchasing an expensive new printer or desktop will only be a waste of money if you and your business don't know how to use it to its full potential.

Employee training is especially important if you don't employ full-time IT support, because your workers will be on their own if something goes wrong. This doesn't necessarily mean you need to bring in an external trainer--though the investment might be worth it. Just make tech training a priority and ensure that everyone learns the fine points within the instruction manual.

15. Using Pirated Software

Purchasing software and the associated licenses for your small business can be daunting. It's often expensive, and it's easy to obtain applications instead through less-than-savory venues. That said, using pirated software can score you a hefty fine from the Business Software Alliance watchdog group.

If you happen to be guilty of one--or several--of these tech errors, don't worry, because you're definitely not the only one. However, now you know what mistakes to look out for and how to fix them when you see them. Ultimately, fixing these errors now will help you save money, create a more efficient workplace, and keep you from serious crises down the road. After all, technology is supposed to help--not hurt--your business.